


SFear

by Scedasticity



Series: Crossover Sburb Sessions [15]
Category: Homestuck, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - SBURB Fusion, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, almost everyone is here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 10,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scedasticity/pseuds/Scedasticity
Summary: To get the Entities off Earth, there has to be somewhere for them to go.Well... here's somewhere they can go.
Series: Crossover Sburb Sessions [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/637184
Comments: 102
Kudos: 42





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is a terrible idea and I am doing it anyway.
> 
> Diverges from TMA canon at about 190. Handwave handwave how any of this is remotely possible.

_Recording found without explanation on nine out of fourteen planets:_

ARCHIVIST:

On 18 October 2018 Jonah Magnus succeeded in orchestrating a ritual to open the door and bring all the so-called Dread Powers into the world. The Archivist was the central if unwilling component of this ritual. Consequently Earth was subjected to a Change, after which natural laws ceased to apply and everyone became either a Watcher of suffering or someone who was Watched. No one was born, and very few people were allowed to die.

There were some survivors not completely overcome by their roles, who looked for a way to reverse the Change. After the door was opened the extradimensional pocket containing the entities had ceased to exist. There had to be somewhere else to put them, and then they had to be pushed or pulled there.

The survivors succeeded in accessing the knowledge of a ritual meant to feed an entirely different sort of entity. The ritual was not meant for our Earth, still less our Earth after the Change, so forcing its execution was complex. It created a connection between Earth and a different extradimensional pocket known as the Medium, which contains "almost unlimited creative potential". This could be used to lure the Entities away from their already plentiful diets on Earth.

But raw creative potential alone was not enough. Human minds were needed to draw the Entities across. The ritual itself also required human — or at least sapient — participants to enter the Medium.

All of the survivors involved in creating this plan committed themselves to the ritual, but there were not enough of them to fully anchor the fears. More people were needed. Gathering more Watchers or Watched would require rehabilitating them from the Change's overwhelming impact on their minds and wills. Most of the Watchers were too far gone to want to reverse the Change, and most of the Watched had a chance to return to normal.

The ritual has a built-in function for a one-time simple resurrection of any participant who is killed. Normally it only applies to participants after the ritual is initiated, but the Archivist's psychically stored statements enabled manipulation of the system and postmortem entry. Participants so restored are fully alive, no strings attached, and are no less human than they were before.

Yes, you died; yes, you are now alive; yes, you have been conscripted without your consent into a world-saving scheme with at present no exit strategy.

If you would like to collaborate on an exit strategy and are willing to work with the people who engineered this, you can connect through the computer that you should find nearby. It will be necessary to play the Game.

If not, the Medium is quite expansive for a pocket dimension and has many things to do and places to investigate. Its ruling entity doesn't benefit from your suffering. Hopefully you can enjoy yourself. You may be attacked by monsters but it should be manageable.


	2. Eye

[click]

ARCHIVIST:  
—o _away_!

[DOOR SLAMS.]

ARCHIVIST:  
Well — I — I — I'm…

[INCOHERENT FRUSTRATED NOISE]

ARCHIVIST:  
If… it's… I… if I… trying…

[CLEARS THROAT]

ARCHIVIST:  
Statement on the Eye in the Medium.

[well, that worked]

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Eye was sent to the Land of Glass and Searchlights with the Prince of Light, who is its Archivist and marked by all other Entities, who — who is Jonathan Sims. He was… fully participant in invoking the ritual of Skaia and contributed crucially to this session's outlandish player roster.

At the center of the Medium is Skaia, and visions in the clouds of Skaia may show anything happening in the Medium or any events relevant to the Medium. The Prince of Light believed, prior to entering the Medium, that this would have the effect of strengthening the fear of the Eye. It does not. Skaia is perceived by the majority of the Medium's natives as an inherently positive force, and even those who do not like it very seldom fear it. Players, too, are encouraged to see Skaia as positive. 

The effect of Skaia is that the ecological niche of observing everything is taken.

Skaia does not know everything; it does not deal in understanding. Knowledge and understanding, especially knowledge and understanding with no discernible source, fall under the heading of the Light Aspect, which is less assertive but also powerful.

When the Prince of Light entered the Medium, he was immediately affected by the drastically reduced strength of Beholding, and collapsed. In a vacuum, he might have simply died, or deteriorated mentally. But he was not in a vacuum; he was in the Medium. Beholding's weakening left space inside him, and Skaia and Light moved in.

When he woke from his collapse, some five hours after entry, the Prince of Light began an adjustment period for having two wildly incompatible entities of seeing everything cohabiting his mind, which while not painful is very disorienting and uncomfortable. He is in fact less bound to his role as Archivist than he was before entry, but moving away from it means moving closer to Skaia, which does not facilitate verbal communication, particularly not about unnaturally obtained information.

Practice should reduce the compulsion to express Known information before saying anything else. Strengthening his Light Aspect powers will make Skaia more tractable.

As for Beholding, it was further anchored to the Medium by its combination with the relevant kernelsprite, according to plan. As anticipated, this has diffused Beholding's power among Game entities to a mostly manageable degree, with the largest part trapped as a sprite which is compelled by 'easy mode' to be non-hostile. What was not anticipated was that 'easy mode' is also unsatisfied by a faceless, voiceless sprite, so Beholding must draw upon its catalogue of victims and deceased avatars to find a face, voice, and accompanying personality.

The sophiornid consorts of the Land of Glass and Searchlights are bothered by the searchlights, but have no particular fear of being watched.

ARCHIVIST:

So... that's what's happening to me.

And after I get the information out I can speak… more or less normally. Good.

It really isn't that bad as long as I don't try to Know anything. It may take a while to get out of the habit, is all. For example, I'm having to work very hard to avoid pursuing what sophiornids are. I can _observe_ them to be long-legged ground owls. They may not be afraid of being watched, but they are very nosy. I keep having to shoo them out of my 'house', which is just a freestanding version of my office.

The sprite is a problem. Whatever we did, um, ah… we…

It's — apparently it's — damn it…

Statement on Jonah Magnus and the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The abrupt transference of the Entities to the Medium did not kill most of the Watchers, or not immediately. Those who experienced physical transformation may or may not survive a reversion to a human body, but the transference itself was only a severe shock, not a direct injury. Callum Brodie and Jordan Carpenter should survive unscathed; Oliver Banks may well make it; Simon Fairchild and Annabelle Cane are in more precarious positions, but still did not die immediately.

The exception to this was Jonah Magnus, the Eye's pupil. He was so deeply enmeshed in it that its transference to the Medium, without him, physically tore him apart. He was not lucid even at the end, for why should the Eye give up that fear to Terminus?

ARCHIVIST:

Yes. That. That's what I mean about getting out of the habit of Knowing. I didn't _need_ to Know that Jonah was dead, I already _deduced_ it. Because, unfortunately, the Eyesprite keeps trying to be Jonah. He hasn't been openly hostile or even asked what's going on — claims he's just trying to be helpful — but I can't… Having him here makes this more difficult. I told the sprite to be someone else and it produced the _original_ Elias Bouchard, who still looks and sounds enough like Jonah as I knew him that—

It wouldn't become Gertrude, which is likely a net positive since it's potential evidence against the "functionally identical copy" theory someone is certain to come up with eventually. I am going without a talking sprite for the moment.

I tried the computer and the Game, and both of my potential connections are not logged on. Since Knowing anything about what's going on with the other "players" is going to be difficult anyway, I'm just going to run through all of them now and record the information before I look for a teleport sequence to Martin's planet. At least I can avoid monologuing _at_ anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is curious, [sophiornids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophiornithidae).
> 
> For those unfamiliar with Homestuck, classpect notes:
> 
> PRINCE: Active destruction [with or by] aspect.  
> \--"Walking disaster and arrogant as hell."  
> \--"you know that gif where the guy is like 'he said i was too overdramatic an i was like prove it' and he throws a handful of glitter. yeah"
> 
> LIGHT: Information. Openness. Clarity. Knowing and being known. Literal light. (Complementary Aspect is Void.)


	3. Corruption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note for those familiar with Homestuck: Reminder that we have 14 players to cover, so to avoid repeats/master classes there need to be two noncanon aspects and two noncanon classes.

ARCHIVIST:

All right. So.

Statement on the Corruption in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Corruption was sent to the Land of Toads and Hellbenders with the Count of Hope, who died to escape its clutches and bore many other marks, who was obtainable through the many statements he sent willingly to the Archive, who is Adelard Dekker. He listened to the explanation left, and was willing to save the world one more time.

The Land of Toads and Hellbenders is not obviously a place influenced by the Corruption, unless one understands the nature of the Medium. The people of Prospit and Derse, the inhabitants of the Lands — they are not made to be sick. When crawling things appear, they are in manageable numbers and usually for known purpose. And when players are brought in, though they may bring fear of the Corruption with them, they will find little of it here to fear. The Medium is… sterile, in that way.

But it is not devoid of disgust and revulsion. It has a very reliable, consistent source of disgust and revulsion, in the Dersite abhorrence of amphibians. And so, in the Medium, the Corruption is largely a fear of amphibians, and the Land of Toads and Hellbenders is full of toads and hellbenders (though not frogs), and the default shape of its sprite has the form of a newt. Its consorts, however, are turtles.

The Count of Hope has no particular fear of amphibians, and so this is more puzzling than anything else. However, when he spoke to the newt-sprite, it took on the likeness of Jane Prentiss. Its — her — mind and appearance are far more human than Flesh Hive, but being familiar with her file, the Count of Hope is understandably wary.

He checked the computer for an email program which was not there, but did not activate the Game programs which would have enabled communication.

ARCHIVIST:

 _Jane Prentiss_? The sprite is _Jane Prentiss_? Of all the— I suppose most of the other possibilities aren't much — no, most of the other possibilities haven't _personally terrorized_ half the players— Never mind. At least the amphibian theme is hopefully mitigating it.

Dekker was the most tenuous connection, so if I got him I probably got the others I was trying for. Also good to know the tape recorder and explanation actually manifested. I sympathize with not realizing you're meant to communicate with the Game application — I wouldn't have guessed that if I hadn't been told beforehand, and he won't be taking advice from his sprite.

…I was not planning on doing Corruption first. I wonder… damn it, I didn't mean to… I can just…

 _Fine_.

Statement on the order Skaia is compelling me to do the planets in for some reason.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

While Skaia has no consciousness as such, the path of least resistance given the environment is to proceed from entrant to server player. This is an unnatural session in which all players entered simultaneously with no action from servers or entrants, so the server-entrant sequence was determined by other factors.

In other sessions the participants might best be specified by name of the Land, or mythological role of the player, or even the player's name; in this session the unnatural prototyping of the kernelsprites means that the intuitive way of description is by Entity.

The entrant-server order is: Web, Eye, Corruption, Spiral, Desolation, Vast, Hunt, Stranger, End, Slaughter, Flesh, Buried, Dark, Lonely.

[…]

ARCHIVIST:

Fuck. You. Too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> COUNT (noncanon): Active accumulation [of aspect] class?
> 
> HOPE: Creating good things. Literal hope. Hope says 'yes'. (Complementary Aspect is Rage.)


	4. Spiral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost posted this yesterday, but it's a good thing I didn't because I did a last-minute aspect swap...

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Spiral in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Spiral was sent to the Land of Labyrinth and Frogs with the Ghoul of Space, who was haunted by it for years through encounters with Corruption and Flesh before giving himself to the Vast, who was obtainable from the live direct statement taken from him, who is Michael Crew.

The Medium has its own internally consistent rules and nature and laws, far more structured than the Spiral would ever tolerate, and yet its drastic departure from any other system is sufficient to lead any susceptible players to question reality and fear madness. The Spiral is stronger here than the Corruption, and the educated eye can see its influence in the Land of Labyrinth and Frogs. The Ghoul of Space has an educated eye, and he is afraid.

The replica of his apartment is not actually within a labyrinth, which is a little comfort. The initial shape of his sprite was the opposite, but as soon as he swore at it, the Lichtenberg outline gave way to Michael Shelley — the Archival Assistant who walked into the Great Twisting, not the Distortion that left it. The Ghoul of Space tolerates the sprite's company, in this shape, for the reassurance that it is not outside his sight possibly resuming its previous form. They feel similarly about the Spiral, at least.

The frogs, of course, have nothing to do with the Spiral; the frogs are there because the Space player is expected to breed frogs. The sprite has explained that much, but couldn't say why, and was very vague on how. The Ghoul of Space has tabled that for now.

The Ghoul of Space listened to the recorded explanation and is not sure how to feel about it. He has turned on the computer and even pulled up the Game — but neither his potential server player nor his potential entrant player have connected. He listens to Michael's non-frog-related suggestions. He hasn't been hostile to the protopteryx consorts, and is trying to work out a reliable way to throw underlings into the Vast in such a way that the grist is retrievable. He is still afraid, but his fear is not growing.

ARCHIVIST:

That's… the best I hoped for, I think. At least he's not already cursing my name for getting him murdered or dragging him into this, and with the Spiral of all— Maybe he thinks living is worth it? All avatars must have a strong desire to live, I suppose. But we should probably avoid springing Daisy on him, assuming she's here. She's probably here.

Basira isn't going to be happy about this, and neither is Martin. But even if I didn't feel guilt for my part in his death — I don't have an infinite number of dead live statement-givers. Live-statement-givers who are dead. I got Dekker from old statements, but he had far more than normal. And Gertrude — assuming I _did_ get her — was Archivist, and there were a lot of tapes of her, too.

If he could potentially take the Vast with him and try to leave, that might be a problem, but he can't — he's not going to go anywhere with the Spiral. Mike Crew will probably work with us, or at least not attack us, and that's good enough.

As for— We didn't get _the Distortion_ , is the most important thing. That would have been a problem. Michael — Michael _Shelley_ — is… I think he's different enough from Michael-the-Distortion to avert… most of the trauma. And I don't think _he's_ going to cause problems on purpose. Hopefully. I don't know how he's going to react to Gertrude — I _do not need to know at the present time_ —

Moving on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Coming tomorrow, the Heir of Rage!~~ Changed my mind, coming now.
> 
> [Protopteryx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protopteryx).
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> GHOUL (noncanon): Active consumption/deformation class?
> 
> SPACE: Literal space, both the location and as in the measure of volume. The journey (as opposed to the destination). Beginnings. Creation. (Complementary Aspect is Time.)


	5. Desolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Be sure you see chapter 4, too)

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Desolation in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Desolation was sent to the Land of Bedrock and Ashes with the Heir of Rage, who ended his life filled with its loss and bitterness, though bearing several other marks and still bound to the Eye, who was obtainable from his self-recorded statements and active Archive contract, who is Timothy Stoker.

In a place destined to have its core destroyed in a rain of fire, the Desolation is strong. Nowhere stronger than the Battlefield, of course, but one way or another everything in the Medium is counting down to the Reckoning. The Land of Bedrock and Ashes looks like a place the Desolation has been — although the Desolation unfettered would never have spared the small subterranean communities of frilled lizards which populate it. This is the Desolation in a universe where the total population is in the millions.

The Heir of Rage destroyed the tape recorder containing the explanatory message immediately after seeing it, so while he has guessed the current situation is related to the Archivist in some way, and is reasonably secure in his belief that he died, he has no knowledge of the Change, still less of the ritual of Skaia.

He has some knowledge of his circumstances only due to speaking with his sprite, which has the shape and mind of Agnes Montague and who has been… interpersonally non-inflammatory. She finds the whole situation fascinating. The Heir of Rage does not trust her — inhuman twice-over — but she's the only information source he has, and he might confess some grudging admiration for her style.

The Heir of Rage is not happy about finding himself alive, but he is… not unhappy, about rescuing lizards from imps. That's… satisfying. He doesn't trust this, will not trust this, has every reason not to trust something telling him he is a hero now, but… maybe it doesn't have to hurt, for a while.

He is… considering turning on the computer, and opening the Game, and seeing who else is supposed to be playing. He is thinking about it.

ARCHIVIST:

[…]

Right.

I just want Tim to feel better. To heal, even just a little. God knows I don't have any right to hope for forgiveness, but I can hope he finds some… antidote, for all the poison he was choking on. I'm mixing my metaphors.

Tim deserves not to be left in the dark — he destroyed the recorder with the explanation, but he still deserves not to be left in the dark. I'm not sure he wouldn't be better off if we let him be for a while, though. Even if all the quests are manufactured by the Game, it's still…

I'm not sure how he'd react to "now we're under the sway of a _different_ incredibly powerful entity, and on purpose, but it's all right, this one wants us as beasts of burden not cattle, and it understands how to use carrots, not just sticks".

I should probably let Martin come up with a better spin on it.

Agnes Montague is… interesting. Hopefully it won't blow up in our faces later. But at least it's not Jude Perry. I was afraid it would be Jude Perry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming tomorrow, probably: Knight of Grief and Mage of ~~Mind~~ HEART, Mage of Heart, that's not a change I just wrote it wrong
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> HEIR: Passive change class.  
> —"You kinda want to protect them. You don't for the life of you know why."  
> —what's awful about your class: "thinks they're a lot funnier and more charismatic than they are"
> 
> RAGE: Destroying bad things. Rage says 'No'. (Complementary Aspect is Hope.)


	6. Vast

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Vast in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Vast was sent to the Land of Tomes and Spires with the Knight of Grief, who was marked by multiple entities and was terribly aware of how small humans are in comparison to them, who was obtainable from the live direct statement taken from him after his death, who is Gerard Keay.

The Medium has space, it requires travel between planets, its edges are haunted by vast and incomprehensible creatures, it deals in the creation of universes. The Medium is, in terms of spatial volume, usable surface area, and required travel time, not very big. And players, almost by definition, are not insignificant within it. This contradiction makes it difficult to evaluate the strength of the Vast in the Medium.

The Land of Tomes and Stairs is cluttered with towering cathedrals, each filled with equally towering bookshelves. The Knight of Grief identified it as most likely Vast-influenced due to the airy architecture and the communities of fruit bat consorts inhabiting it, but before noticing the bats considered Buried plausible, at least from ground level. He has been telling himself the planet would be filled with bookshelves even if it wasn't assigned to him, but doesn't believe it.

He listened to the recorded explanation and rates this resurrection much less painful and frustrating than the last, and more justified, but a thousand times as ridiculous. He can work with this. And without burning down the bookshelves, but only because the fruit bats live there. Thus far he has been dealing with imps mostly by kicking them, but is wondering if he should find a more substantial weapon before he encounters more substantial underlings.

As for the sprite, while the Vast has no shortage of victims or dead avatars, there are not so many with a personal connection to or history with any of the players or the Archives, which… it seems is being looked for in sprite faces. So it resorted to a few options who were touched by the Vast before being devoured by other powers. Thus far the Knight of Grief has preferred Sarah Carpenter's intrigue to Jan Kilbride's panic, despite her apparently recognizing his name. (He is not… fundamentally opposed to hearing about his father. There's just a lot going on already right now.)

The Knight of Grief activated the computer and the Game and noted that while his potential entrant was offline, his potential server was intermittently online. He did not attempt to make contact during one of the online periods. He would rather know who he's dealing with first.

ARCHIVIST:

I admit I'm quite relieved Gerry doesn't resent getting dragged into this. Not that I want anyone to resent getting dragged into this, just — the only thing he wanted from me was rest, and this… isn't. But it sounds like he's all right with this.

I understand not wanting to allow a server player to come… alter your environment without at least finding out who it is. I'm not sure I'd trust Mike Crew that far, for example, or even — some of the others, depending on the entrant. It would be good if we could put together some sort of long-distance communication not involving Game connections. Phones should work, but does anyone have a phone?

The sprite information is interesting. If it's looking for either personal or Archive connections, that explains… well, why every one so far has been some degree of familiar, when there are thousands of dead avatars and victims to draw from. And this is the second of Gertrude's assistants to be a sprite, isn't it. Hmm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> KNIGHT: Utilization class? Active/passive status disputed.  
> —"Hero complex to the moon and back."  
> —what's awful about your class: "disingenuous prat fronting harder than a frat boy"
> 
> GRIEF (noncanon): Conflict (vs. peace), struggle (vs. acceptance), chaos (vs. order). (Complementary, also noncanon Aspect is Peace.) (N.B. I consider Grief the _closest_ to canon of my noncanon Aspects, because of that one soundtrack title.)


	7. Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 3/12: Class switch.

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Hunt in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Hunt was sent to the Land of Tracks and Traces with the Haunt of Heart, who was and will always be a Hunter despite claims from Eye and Buried, who was obtainable from her live statements and active Archive contract, who is Alice "Daisy" Tonner.

Players are meant to hunt underlings. Underlings hunt players, carapacians, and consorts. Agents hunt players and each other. Denizens hunt anything they want — anything that enters their lairs, more accurately. The only thing weakening the Hunt is reduced overall population. The Land of Tracks and Traces demonstrates this most clearly in its consorts, small gorgonopsids who on occasion hunt one another for sport, but its jungle environs would seem familiar to those who read of the Everchase.

The Haunt of Heart awoke with a mostly — but not entirely — human form and a… relatively clear mind, though with only foggy memories of anything happening after her last transformation. (She knows how she died, and what she was doing beforehand, but not — details.) This reversion is not due to the somewhat weakened Entities, but to the nature of the one-time resurrection, which supplies a new body. It has not made her not a Hunter, but it has returned her to a person who is a Hunter, rather than a Hunter who used to be a person.

She still hears the call of the Hunt, though weakened, and is afraid of what will happen if she answers it — not realizing that she is fortunate in her Aspect and should be able to avoid losing her Heart again, with care. While the Hunt would like her to hunt anything, the Game would like her to hunt underlings specifically, and pursuing this task would satisfy both without serious harm.

She does not know this, though, and is not sure it is safe for her to be around people. She listened to the recorded explanation, and has gotten as far as opening the Game several times before changing her mind.

The reason she has received no information whatsoever on her mythological role is that despite a variety of attempts, the sprite has not been able to produce a face not either actively and aggressively hostile or ignorant and terrified to the point of uselessness — or both. It remains in the form of a wolf, eager to fight off threats but unable to provide counsel.

ARCHIVIST:

For the record, it looked like the sprite tried Trevor Herbert and a dozen of what I believe were Daisy's victims before she told it to stop.

I'm glad she's… I'm glad she has a chance to find herself again. I hope the population-related strength reduction is enough… Hunting underlings might be completely safe for everyone else — _Daisy_ hunting underlings might be safe for everyone else — but I'm not sure it wouldn't be bad for her. I'm also not sure I understand how Heart Aspect is related to all this, or even what Heart Aspect is. …That information is not available, fine.

So Daisy is here, which is good, but we will need to warn Mike Crew, and deal with… whatever we'll need to do, to keep from… terrorizing him. We also need to get someone over to Daisy's planet to provide some guidance as soon as we can arrange it, since she's getting no sprite input.

I… suppose I could try to find my way to her first. It sounds like it should be safe. But… No. Martin first. After I get through the rest of this list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Gorgonopsids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonopsia) (If anyone is wondering about this all the realized avatars are getting prehistorically extinct animals. Because.)
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> [There has been a Class Adjustment, because Mage wasn't a good fit. This makes three noncanon Classes, but Page really didn't fit anybody.]
> 
> ~~MAGE: Active understanding class (probably).~~   
>  ~~—"Highly skilled in avoiding people and pretending that's not what they're doing."~~   
>  ~~—what's awful about your class: "TRY TALKING ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS FOR ONCE JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST"~~
> 
> HAUNT (noncanon): Passive consumption/deformation class?
> 
> HEART: Who you are. Souls. Instinct. Often associated with trying out many different personas. (Complementary Aspect is Mind.)


	8. Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 3/12: Switched Class.

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Stranger in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Stranger was sent to the Land of Masks and Circles with the Mage of Doom, who was devoured by its creature despite being bound to the Eye, who was obtainable from her live direct statement and active Archive contract, who is — really is — Sasha James.

The Medium has not restored the memories the NotThem stole, but when Skaia shows visions of the past, it is not reliant on any memory. Any vision of Sasha James in Skaia's clouds will be, genuinely, Sasha James. In time, sufficiently high-level players may acquire the ability to heal the memories — Life, Light, Blood, and Hope are promising Aspects.

The Stranger is, habitually, things that should be familiar but aren't. The Medium is more rich in the related but not identical category of things that shouldn't be familiar but are. The sprites should be a mere game construct, but readily become embodied ghosts of those players once knew. The carapacians are faced with rulers who are deformed into shapes that could easily be considered monstrous, and find this natural and unworrying. It's enough for the Stranger to make do, but it is… off-balance. The chameleon consorts of the Land of Masks and Circles have a proud tradition of clown performances. The worst thing that ever happens at them is a badly-timed underling attack.

The Mage of Doom is the least well-informed of all the players, and so also off-balance. She listened to the recording, but found it raised as many questions as it answered. But she is not afraid. She has been interrogating her sprite, which when spoken to assumed the shape of former Archivist Angus Stacey, also devoured by a creature of the Stranger.

She has asked questions about the Entities, receiving a satisfactory explanation; about what happened to her, about which he could provide no details other than that she had been taken by the Stranger; about the Stranger specifically, receiving an adequate explanation accompanied by unsolicited discussion of his proposed alternative to Smirke's categorization; about the Circus of the Other specifically, which was outside his experience; about the history of the Magnus Institute, which he could discuss at length while still being unable to explain why the Archives when Sasha arrived would be so completely ignorant or why the explanation said Jonah Magnus was active; about the Medium, returning a sprite's canned explanation; what determines what people the sprite can be, which he doesn't know.

With some prodding, she was able to get the sprite to briefly become 'the thing that took her' (the NotThem did not appreciate sprite constraints and it soon reverted to a grinning clown face) and several of its previous victims (who were not very helpful). She has now let it go back to being Angus Stacey and resumed asking questions, this time about the origins and goals of the Game.

Unfortunately she is not turning on the computer and starting the Game; fortunately she is not yet exploring… other ideas… she has had about potential sprites.

ARCHIVIST:

Sasha, do not — do _not_ try to get your sprite to turn into— I remember her being more sensible than this. Was that just NotSasha keeping itself safe? For—

I'm glad Sasha is doing so well under the circumstances but if she has her sprite turn into Danny Stoker without clearing it with Tim first I'm throwing myself to Daisy's gorgonopsids. That's a joke, Martin.

Also—

[CHAIR SCRAPES, FOOTSTEPS]

ARCHIVIST (slightly removed, yelling):

Turn into Angus Stacey!

[PAUSE, FOOTSTEPS RETURN]

ARCHIVIST:

The Eyesprite did _not_ turn into Angus Stacey when asked to do so. This is probably related to the Strangersprite being Angus Stacey at the moment but we can look into that _later_.

I'm not sure how to handle reintroducing Sasha to… everyone. Tim will… we may have to _convince_ Tim. Somehow. Maybe the Skaia visions could help?

Oh, for— No, go _away_! That wasn't an invitation to come back in here! Just—

UNKNOWN: 

Wo bin ich hier? Wer sind Sie?

ARCHIVIST:

 _Don't be him either_!

[DOOR SLAMS]

ARCHIVIST:

If you ask _me_ the sprites _alone_ should keep the Stranger _very_ well-fed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Unknown" is Albrecht von Closensprite asking "where am I" and "who are you" in (modern) German.
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> [There has been a Class Adjustment, because Mage doesn't particularly suit Daisy and, well, Sasha _is_ the one good with computers…]
> 
> ~~(Okay, Knave isn't canon and the canon Page isn't currently used. In the first draft Sasha got Page. But Page doesn't suit anyone here except _maybe_ Martin, whose current class I like much better for him, and we're using some noncanon classes anyway, so… Knave it is.)~~
> 
> ~~KNAVE (noncanon): Active(?) infestation/infiltration(???) class?~~
> 
> MAGE: Active understanding class (probably).   
> —"Highly skilled in avoiding people and pretending that's not what they're doing."  
> —what's awful about your class: "TRY TALKING ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS FOR ONCE JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST"
> 
> DOOM: Some things can't be fixed. Deal with and accept reality. (Complementary Aspect is Life.)
> 
> (I'm not altogether happy with Doom, either -- she _got_ Doom more than _was_ Doom -- but it's not such a terrible mismatch as Page, ~~and I picked Knave specifically to swap up the implications a bit~~ and Mage class makes it a hacker joke, so fine.)


	9. End

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the End in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The End was sent to the Land of Knells and Echoes with the Sylph of Time, who was marked by it so indelibly no other entity can touch her, who was a fully aware participant in invoking the ritual of Skaia, who is Georgina Barker.

Carapacians and consorts and underlings fear death — perhaps slightly less than the average human does, considering the fatalism built into them, but they still fear it. What makes the End special, in the Medium, is that alone among the Entities it is a flight risk even without human intervention: the creatures out beyond the Furthest Ring fear death and only death. Terminus is the only fear they could conceivably carry anywhere.

The Land of Knells and Echoes is scattered with belfries holding massive, somber bells, and peopled by grave, serious snake consorts. The Sylph of Time has not had much of a chance to explore it, for three reasons.

First, she did not come alone: she was accompanied by her cat, which was forcibly retrieved from the Domain of cats shortly before entry. He was not purged of the influence of the Hunt, but with the Hunt's weakening from the reduced population, he is more himself — still larger and fiercer than one might expect of a domestic cat, but more of the scale of bobcat than lion, and able to be distracted from stalking consorts with attention or treats.

Second, the sprite situation was not straightforward. The Endsprite first tried to use a certain cadaver of the Sylph of Time's acquaintance as a mouthpiece, and when she objected followed up with the friend lost to that same cadaver. The Sylph of Time was unsurprisingly not happy with that, either. The third offering — a sharp-faced bald woman with tattoos — was at least unfamiliar by face and by name, and proved to be helpful despite her unpleasant personality.

Third, the Sylph of Time is thus far the only entrant to have successfully connected with their server player. Although they have not made any building progress due to an assortment of complications, that communication has consumed a lot of attention.

ARCHIVIST:

That's — thank god, but — when — _who_ —

Statement on how the Admiral ended up in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

Some hours elapsed between committing to triggering a session and entry occurring. The Archivist spent this time in a trance, working to isolate the additional players, but the other active participants had no Game-related action they need take until the final forty-five minutes.

Melanie King suggested they seize the opportunity to retrieve the Admiral, believing it would make Georgina Barker happier. Martin Blackwood was dubious but willing to be convinced, as he believed it would make the Archivist happier. Georgina Barker hesitated, wondering if it was worth the risk, until Basira Hussain objected with the phrase 'just a cat'. She was left to watch the unresponsive Archivist while the other three scavenged for cat supplies and a very large net.

The retrieval was not without difficulty, but no one was seriously hurt.

ARCHIVIST (slightly choked up):

Well.

Thank you, Martin. And thank you, Melanie. Georgie. And sorry, Basira, for being sentimental people with skewed priorities.

[DEEP BREATH]

Welcome revelations aside — that ended very abruptly. Maybe we're waiting to give all the details on the server player's turn, to avoid spoilers…? Ha, nothing is answering that verbally or otherwise.

The Endsprite is definitely Mary Keay. Unfortunately. She's only personally traumatized _one_ player, so still better than Jane Prentiss there — never mind Jonah — but this isn't… ideal. She seems to be working all right? And I'm not sure how much a sprite is _capable_ of acting against a player? But all the ones I've seen revert to default were actually physically attacking, so if there's any sort of subtlety involved… No answers on that either, apparently.

Georgie definitely didn't recognize the name. I think… Georgie wouldn't appreciate being asked to change sprites, but she _would_ rather be informed that her current sprite is a child-abusing Leitner-dealing husband-killing serial murderer, so she can decide whether to change. Right. And if not we definitely warn Gerry.

Although if Oliver Banks is still alive, and the people involved in Georgie's encounter are unusable, I'm not sure who… Would anyone dead count as End-touched, maybe? Question for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming tomorrow, probably: Witch of Breath and Thief of Life
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> SYLPH: Passive creation class.  
> —"If you're still alive, they've decided they like you. And you probably don't even realize they have a vengeful side. It's because they like you."  
> —what's awful about your class: "meddles in everything. absolutely everything"
> 
> TIME: Literal time and time travel. The destination (as opposed to the journey). Death. Endings. (Complementary Aspect is Space.)


	10. Slaughter

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Slaughter in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Slaughter was sent to the Land of Reeds and Whistles with the Witch of Breath, who almost became its avatar and still bears its traces after purging herself of the Eye, who was a fully aware participant in invoking the ritual of Skaia, who is Melanie King.

The war between Prospit and Derse is a violent, bloody struggle fought partially for abstract ideological differences but mainly because they are expected to fight, for the sake of there being a war. There are ways it could be more of the Slaughter — more targeting of noncombatants, more outstanding savagery from the rank and file — but it is very much of the Slaughter. The Land of Reeds and Whistles sounds as if pipes are playing when the wind blows, and its meerkat consorts are on high alert for any potential conflict between their colonies.

The Slaughtersprite, its default form a faceless, voiceless piper, was unable to come up with any spokesperson both connected to the Archives or players and coherent. So it remained faceless and voiceless, and attempted to provide guidance by making noise near where whatever item it thought the Witch of Breath was looking for could be found.

The 'house' has roughly the layout of the last flat the Witch of Breath lived in, and she brought a cane, so she has that much of an advantage. She located the computer, activated the Game, offered a server connection, was pleased to find her entrant was the Sylph of Time, made the connection — and discovered that 'building' depends on a point-and-click interface with no accessibility modifications whatsoever.

They had at least progressed to a point where voice-and-video communication could be established, and did so. They greeted each other, and compared notes on events thus far. The Witch of Breath pointed out the voiceless Slaughtersprite hovering around the flat boosting the ambient tension level, possibly moping because it couldn't be useful. The Sylph of Time introduced her sprite, by the name she hadn't recognized.

The Witch of Breath did recognize the name, from the statement that gave her an escape. She explained to the Sylph of Time that Mary Keay had murdered her husband because he blinded himself to leave the Archives. And, on top of that, she deliberately cut him out of her evil book before binding herself to it, one last insult, like she couldn't stand to be near him.

After she murdered him. Bloodily. Slaughtered him, you could even say.

The Witch of Breath turned to her still-voiceless sprite and ordered it to become Eric Delano.

It was a weak justification. But whether it was the player also being a blind ex-Archival Assistant, several others with some connection to Eric already being in the Medium, or some narrative property of Skaia, something made it enough.

This has had the side effect of leading both sprites to focus on arguing over voice connection rather than contributing to Game progress, so the Witch of Breath and Sylph of Time are proceeding slowly.

ARCHIVIST:

…Well. All right then. We now have both Gerry's parents and three of Gertrude's former assistants, an Archivist, the Lightless Flame Messiah, Jane Prentiss, and a giant eye and giant wolf that can't come up with anything to turn into that isn't worse than all of those. Fine. Though if it can work with connections _this_ weak when prompted we should be able to come up with something.

Does this mean we should leave the Endsprite as Mary long enough for Eric to have it out with her, or…? He could definitely be the Endsprite instead, but I'm having trouble coming up with anything functional for the Slaughtersprite. _Mary_ could probably be the Slaughtersprite but I don't think that would be any better than the current arrangement. It would probably be easier to come up with an alternative for End.

…I have guesses on what the remaining sprites are, but voicing them will probably trigger trying to Know, and I'm getting to them soon enough anyway.

For the record, I believe a _paranormal transdimensional_ computer game ought to be able to manage something as simple as _accessibility to the visually impaired_. Having a start menu compatible with screen readers is a good start, and I'm not sure how you'd convert point-and-click into something accessible, but the _paranormal transdimensional_ game should be able to do it _somehow_.

At least Georgie and Melanie are in contact with each other, and seem to have things… more or less under control. That's a relief. I don't know how much they'll want to see of— We'll see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> WITCH: Active change class.  
> —"Are they fully sane? Probably not. Do you like them anyway? Pretty much."  
> —what's awful about your class: "hi do you have any intention of joining the rest of us over here in reality anytime soon"
> 
> BREATH: Individuality, independence, freedom. Also literal air and wind. (Complementary Aspect is Blood.)
> 
> Fun fact: First draft, Mary and Eric were switched -- she's still not a strong Slaughter candidate, but she's probably handled Slaughter Leitners, and she can be... Slaughter-y, and while Eric isn't as strong for End as she is he's a solid candidate with no questionable linkage.
> 
> I just decided to have mercy on Melanie's nerves and not leave her blind, in an unfamiliar location, surrounded by small monsters, with a sprite who is unpleasant, mean, and _the murderer of her husband who was the only known person to quit like Melanie before_. (Marysprite physically could not have murdered Melanie, but Melanie wouldn't know that and I'm not sure how much it would fix the anxiety anyway.)


	11. Flesh

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Flesh in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Flesh was sent to the Land of Shape and Crystal with the Thief of Life, who was threatened by the Dark and chose the Hunt and pursued prey bound to many entities but who will always remember beating hearts in a shed, who was obtainable from her direct live statement, who is Julia Montauk.

The Flesh has very little to work with. Like the Corruption, the Medium's sterility works against it. Meat doesn't come from animals but is magically generated. Underlings are hunted for the grist they produce — but grist is not flesh, and that falls under the Hunt anyway. There is a little body horror, in the transformation of the carapacian rulers and the development of the sprites, but it's as much Stranger as Flesh. And that's all.

So the Land of Shape and Crystal has crystals which call grist to mind, and a few rock formations that look sort of like meat, and karenites consorts who eat meat — after it has been synthesized, of course — and none of it is frightening. The Thief of Life finds the whole setup very weird, but the meat angle barely noticeable.

The Thief of Life has not listened to the recorded explanation and has not approached the computer. Instead, she has been exploring the planet and intermittently attempting to hunt her sprite, which when spoken to takes the form of the monster pig from New Zealand, but able to speak. Whenever she gets too close with a knife it reverts to the form of a haunch of meat, but mostly it has been evading her.

She has not been attacking the consorts, and has overheard some of them discussing a monster at the center of the planet. She wants to deal with the monster pig first.

ARCHIVIST:

…Well, the sprite isn't Jared Hopworth, so I was wrong about that, and also intensely relieved.

Julia… may have been a mistake. I was running out of options, but… she may have been a mistake. Daisy killed her; last time we met she was trying to kill me _and_ Basira, which might extend to anyone associated with the Archives; there's a bad history between her and Gerry; I don't know if she's sensitive enough to avatars to go after Mike. I could probably find that much out but it can wait.

I need some second opinions on this. Not that there's much we — we don't really _need_ to do anything, do we? Just… let her try to hunt her Denizen, if it comes to that. But I don't want to have brought her here just to kill her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Karenities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karenites)
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> THIEF: Active allocation class.  
> —"Assholes with talent."  
> —what's awful about your class: "there's other people, you selfish asshole"
> 
> LIFE: Fixing things. Finding a way. Healing. (Except, you see, _thief_ makes it a _very selfish_ application of the Aspect.)


	12. Buried

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the last chapter are both quite short, so you get them both today.

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Buried in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Buried was sent to the Land of Rifts and Sinkholes with the Bard of Strange, who claimed artifacts of every entity before they took them back and sent him underground to hide for the rest of his life, who was obtainable from the live direct statement taken from him, who is Jurgen Leitner.

The Medium is not as innately inhospitable to the Buried as it is to Corruption or Flesh. Small spaces exist. Players' planets may have quicksand or pits, and usually have caves, though often roomy ones. It just does not particularly facilitate the Buried, and the lower population is a blow. The Land of Rifts and Sinkholes has rifts and sinkholes, and… nakkodiles who take them for granted while carrying on with their… stock… trading.

[STATEMENT PAUSES BRIEFLY AS ARCHIVIST PROCESSES THIS]

The sprite took the form of a coffin, and when spoken to became Fiona Law. Owing to her death well before his library's destruction, she recognized the Bard of Strange's name as a not-yet-infamous but still well-known reckless collector. She has been commenting on this in between sprite advice. The Bard of Strange is largely ignoring the sprite advice in favor of attempting to fortify his 'house', but is not about to chase away the only… non-nakkodile… company available.

He has not touched the computer. Not surprising; he had little opportunity to keep up with technology while hiding in the tunnels.

ARCHIVIST:

Before anyone asks, Leitner is here because he's a potential hook for any of the Entities and I don't feel bad about dragging him back into this. However, I'm afraid we have to discourage anyone from beating him up. 'Anyone' being Gerry, but also… anyone.

This time I was right about the sprite. That makes all but one of Gertrude's official assistants, and three of her unofficial assistants are already here as players. I don't know how Sarah or Fiona feel, but I don't think Michael's anger was only the Distortion, and sooner or later Eric is going to find out what she did to Gerry.

I should probably take this as a reminder not to feel too sorry for myself about Tim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Enjoy your nakkodiles, Jurgen.)
> 
> Classpect notes:
> 
> BARD: Passive destruction class.  
> —"I don't even know man. Let bards be bards and everyone else get the fuck away."  
> —what's awful about your class: "codpiece. also, why don't you respect boundaries. boundaries like how i don't want to see your codpiece"
> 
> Strange (noncanon): Standing out. Disconcerting people. Defying expectations. (Complementary, also noncanon Aspect is Charm.)
> 
> Coming tomorrow probably, Maid of Mind and Rogue of Blood


	13. Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hilariously, as of 197 I think this is slightly more canon-compatible than it was ~190. Still completely absurd and handwavy, of course, just slightly less so.

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Dark in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Dark was sent to the Land of Pitch and Frames with the Maid of Mind, who had several significant encounters with it despite connections to Hunt and Eye, who was a fully aware participant in invoking the ritual of Skaia, who is Basira Hussain.

Many dark places exist in the Medium for players and consorts to fear if they are so inclined, but the most sustained, reliable source of fear of the Dark is more precisely fear of Derse, and the Furthest Ring beyond it. The Land of Pitch and Frames consequently includes a great deal of elaborate and unused architecture in purple. Recalling the beings beyond the Furthest Ring, the landscape has occasional clusters of eyes that shouldn't be there; recalling the Dark, all of these eyes are closed, which does not enhance the effect. The salamander consorts farm mushrooms and now and then fret about their bioluminescent lanterns going out.

The Maid of Mind could most likely have connected to her server player if she started the Game, but she did not start it; she feels generally skeptical about the Game and doesn't want to trust it even that far. Instead, she is cautiously exploring the Land of Pitch and Frames, warily speaking with salamanders and shooting underlings only when they make it necessary. She has found a transportalizer platform that would take her to a Veil meteor if she used it, but has no confidence that it did not simply vaporize the objects she tossed onto it.

Also due to her distrust of the Game, she rejected the Darksprite even after it switched out Manuela Dominguez for a Sectioned officer killed by Maxwell Rayner. It follows her at a distance as she explores in the form of a faint imitation of the Black Sun, mostly keeping out of sight but still significantly heightening anxiety. This _raw_ form emanates considerably more primal terror than the offered faces, but she persists in rejecting them: she does not want this Game.

ARCHIVIST:

I _thoroughly_ sympathize with having a sprite which will _not go away_ , but in my opinion even Manuela would have been better than Jane Prentiss, let alone Jonah. Manuela was my guess. I'm not sure if I should take it as correct or not. I can see how Basira wouldn't want to deal with a dead colleague, either, but it sounds like the problem is that she doesn't want a sprite at all.

I thought we had all agreed to make some attempt at playing the Game? I can't… I was… some distance under by that time, pulling everything together, but I'm sure Martin and Georgie agreed on that. Maybe Basira never agreed to anything beyond enacting the ritual.

Daisy is going to want to see her. Basira… it will be difficult for her, but Basira _will_ want to see Daisy.

…Since we have no idea how far Basira will have gone by the time we get to the point we can visit her world, we may need Daisy to track her down.

Also… I haven't found that the Eyesprite alone gives off more… primal terror than the Eyesprite as Jonah or Elias? My problem with the last two is that I have… very negative associations, of course that makes a difference, but I don't think it's a difference in _primal terror_. Melanie found the… the raw Slaughtersprite more unpleasant, too, I think, but she wasn't _terrified_ — Daisy doesn't seem to have a problem with the Huntsprite—

Ah.

Probably because Basira hasn't ever gotten anything good from the Dark, and the Slaughter gave Melanie some benefits but ultimately she rejected it, and Daisy and I… Right. And it wouldn't apply to Mike or Julia because they aren't with _their_ entity.

…This probably means I'll have to come up with something to make the Eyesprite be, if it's going to be around other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> MAID: Active creation class.  
> —"They'll devote themselves to helping you in any way they can. Until you get on their bad side."  
> —what's awful about your class: "absolutely no sense of human empathy whatsoever"
> 
> MIND: What you do. Rationality and logic. Consequences of actions. (Complementary Aspect is Heart.)


	14. Lonely

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Lonely in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Lonely was sent to the Land of Mist and Glowworms with the Rogue of Blood, who embraced it for his own purposes while still claimed by the Eye, who was a fully aware participant in invoking the ritual of Skaia, who is Martin Blackwood.

Carapacians and consorts and underlings seldom have much opportunity to be alone. Denizens do, but they are meant to be alone and embrace it. The Medium's natives have little to fear from the Lonely.

Players, though — players are abruptly, irreversibly separated from almost everyone they knew in their previous life. They are told very firmly that they are something different. If all goes as planned they experience a long physical separation from even their fellow players, and are left alone with consorts and sprites and other alien things. Players are inclined to feed the Lonely.

The Rogue of Blood was initially wary of the Land of Mist and Glowworms's eponymous mist, but found it devoid of Lonely influence — it merely supports the aesthetic. The hoatzin consorts are warier of the pale lights that exist to lure them into glowworm webs. Still, the mist looks the part.

The Lonelysprite resolved from nebulous fog to the face of Peter Lukas. The Rogue of Blood was very unhappy about this but became more reconciled to the thought when he realized that while the Lonelysprite very much wants to be Peter Lukas, Peter Lukas does not much want to be the Lonelysprite.

More specifically, he does not want to have to deliver helpful advice. The Rogue of Blood has been working out what he needs to say or do to trigger maximum possible solicitousness from the sprite programming, and seeing how far he can push it before Peter flees and the sprite reverts to default for some time.

Presently he has cornered his sprite into going into more _depth_ about the Land of Mist and Glowworms. Details about the complicated nature of Denizens and the Choices they offer generally are not related to players this early on, and so should not be surface-available to sprites this early on, but Petersprite is very motivated to find something to explain which is interesting enough that the Rogue of Blood will go look into it elsewhere for a while.

Before starting this the Rogue of Blood did make several attempts to start the Game — and he continues checking on the hour — but his potential connections remained and remain offline. He has chosen not to start destroying underlings despite being advised of that aspect of the Game beforehand. The consorts are, unsurprisingly, limited conversationalists.

He could range farther afield and seek puzzles, but he does not want to go too far from base, in case someone comes online, or comes looking for him.

ARCHIVIST:

Someone _will_ come looking for him, _soon_.

…I'm not getting any information on "Blood", either.

Peter was my guess for the Lonelysprite. I'm not happy to be right, but I'm glad Martin seems to be handling him better than I handled _Jonah_. I suppose he doesn't have much to worry about from a Peter not capable of physically flinging people into the Lonely. Martin could always equal Peter at the mind games.

We may need to have a discussion about the underlings. I understand not liking that they're… made to be killed, but if we are going to try to play the Game, collecting grist is not optional, and I don't think they can be talked out of attacking. If he doesn't want to play the Game for that — or any — reason that's fine, we don't need to, but I don't think… I think there's no way to be a pacifist, here.

Something just did a data dump, presumably about Medium pacifism, but I am shelving it and its statement for later and talking about other things. Which I can do now. Practice _is_ helping.

Oh, I do want to mention that I don't think the Game is making any of _our_ collection of players more isolated than they already were.

Almost through, and then I can _get to _the Land of Mist and Glowworms.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> ROGUE: Passive allocation class.  
> —"Good at dealing with assholes with talent."  
> —what's awful about your class: "A+ avoiding-talking-to-the-people-you-need-to-talk-to skills"
> 
> BLOOD: Community, interdependence, connections, synthesis. (Complementary Aspect is Breath.)
> 
> Coming tomorrow, probably: Seer of Void and summary remarks


	15. Web

ARCHIVIST:

Statement on the Web in the Medium.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

The Web was sent to the Land of Nets and Deadwood with the Seer of Void, who made use of it at times and was used by it at others and clashed with avatars of all entities, who was obtainable from statements left behind and an active Archive contract, who is Gertrude Robinson.

Skaia and the Game do not control all your actions. Skaia and the Game do not control any of your actions. But Skaia and the Game only accept one, _exactly_ one of the arbitrarily large possible set of actions and outcomes before you as the alpha timeline which leads to success. All others are doomed, one way or another. It doesn't pull your strings, but you must guess the moves it demands and make them, or you are doomed.

At this point being controlled may start to seem appealing.

This is not, precisely, fear of the Web, but it is close enough. The Land of Nets and Deadwood is afflicted with large, nonsapient spiders who spin webs and attempt to eat the consort caimans and each other.

The Seer of Void has no plans to undertake the quests, and is holding off on any Game connections for now. She has more urgent issues. As Seer and a Prospit player, she is potentially subject to visions of Skaia's clouds just as much as a Light player. She has been less seriously affected because Beholding's weakening did little damage to her, and Void reduces the degree either power can find her, but it is still a power she does not know, does not trust, and can only partially control. Getting control is her first priority.

The Websprite quickly became Emma Harvey. Being a sprite has given Emma much information, but it did not tell her that Gertrude realized her schemes or arranged her death; she believes Gertrude still thinks her a trusted friend. Gertrude has not enlightened her. Emma is very ostentatiously being a helpful and attentive sprite. Gertrude is very ostentatiously being appreciative and glad (for Gertrude) to see her old friend. Likely neither will admit the deception until forced to.

ARCHIVIST:

All right. That's… good. I… admit I was… somewhat concerned that Gertrude might have immediately set out to— Well. To kill me. But it's not that, at least. Perhaps we can even compare notes on Skaia visions. Preferably not while she's having some sort of… Web duel.

I shouldn't gloat about all of Gertrude's assistants being here since all of mine are also here, and if you only count official assistants I have more, and more than half of mine don't like me very much either — but I never deliberately had any killed, I never lied to turn someone into the Distortion, I never bound anyone's consciousness to a book, I never agreed to look after someone's son and then let him die of cancer and bound him into a book, and while I definitely put assistants in danger by failing to realize things it was for a _much_ shorter duration than Gertrude let Emma do as she pleased.

[…]

Ah. Well. Obviously she did a much better job at, at _not being a world-ending monster_ , just — on an individual level… never mind.

If she can See things, too, maybe she can find her way to us without us going to look for her. Or maybe she'll even _start the Game_. Though if she doesn't start it very soon she's going to miss me and will have to _wait_. I wonder if I can leave an out-of-office notice on it?

I think… there's one more thing I need some… verbal explanation of, before I go. At least one more.

Not long after I woke up here, when the Eyesprite showed up and almost immediately turned into Jonah, I was… startled, and knocked some things over, and there was a bit of a mess, and I cut my hand on some broken glass. I wrapped it up so it could heal without bleeding everywhere.

I unwrapped it just now, and it's not healed.

It's more healed than it _should_ be, on a human, after a few hours with no treatment but sloppy bandaging — it's stopped bleeding and scabbed over, and I can use the hand normally without reopening it. But it's not _gone_. And I think — I need to know — there it is—

Statement on Jonathan Sims's partially healed hand.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT):

Players are more difficult to incapacitate than they should be, in the Medium. Players have to play, after all, and they can't do that if they are immobilized by broken bones after something as minor as being tossed across a room by an ogre. Many things that should injure players simply don't.

Moreover, the Game enforces a certain computer-game logic on player injuries when they do occur. Any severe injury not fatal within the first few hours will heal to the point of basic functionality or better after at most two long rests — though maiming is usually not reversed. More minor injuries quickly become no more than inconveniences, until enough damage accumulates to bring HP to zero and the player collapses. Injuries can and usually do feel normal to players when they experience them, but they are not, by standards outside the Medium, normal.

But do not mistake this resilience for immortality. Players can die. And except under specific conditions — notably including dreamself resurrections, god tier conditional immortality, and certain Life or Time abilities — it is a permanent Game Over. What happens then, in a session without dream bubbles, is a mystery; perhaps what would have happened had they died without playing at all.

Weakened as they are by the reduced population and other factors, the so-called Dread Powers have only limited ability to maintain the physical well-being of their avatars. In the case of the Eye, its ability is so limited it is entirely masked by the default player resilience.

Jonathan Sims's hand is healing at the same rate, in the same way, that any other player's hand would, given a similar injury.

ARCHIVIST:

[…]

I see. I… I think I see. I—

I see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Classpect notes:
> 
> SEER: Passive understanding class.   
> —"Try telling them that they're wrong. I dare you."  
> —what's awful about your class: "thinks of other people pretty much exclusively in the abstract"
> 
> VOID: Mystery. The unknown. Literal nonexistence. (Complementary Aspect is Light.) (Gertrude the mystery, right? And ultimately an enemy of the Eye.)


	16. Closing Remarks

ARCHIVIST:

I'm on my way to the Land of Mist and Glowworms, finally.

My departure was delayed further because — as far as I can tell — the Beholding in my head started… hinting at, at its kind of hunger, and in response the Skaia in my head fed it about twenty-four compressed hours of, of visual record of completely unfamiliar people in what I assume was some other instance of the Medium. I had to sit down until my head stopped spinning, and couldn't get an intelligible word out for half an hour, but I'm not _hungry_ anymore.

I've made the first… transportalizer… jump of a predicted four. I'm walking through a meteor now. It's… very strange.

The Eyesprite is following me. I finally let it follow me _in_ sight because its lurking just _out_ of sight is even worse. It's possible it's just being difficult, but it's possible it _can't_ not follow me. Which is — the Eyesprite is a problem by itself, but are we going to have _all_ the sprites at any group meetings? That's… not ideal.

There are a lot of things about the sprites we didn't expect and questions we're going to have to answer, but I don't even know what the questions are yet, so I'm leaving it for after we've met up.

I'm recording now because I need to say this, but I don't want to say it _to_ anyone. Not all of it.

The part I will share is I'm sure now that this is doing what we wanted it to do — removing the Entities from Earth, reversing the Change. I still don't Know that _specifically_ , but from some Skaia visions — which I suspect I can't describe in detail without… statement-ing — it seems clear that Earth isn't running on nightmare logic anymore, so… it's working. Or it has worked. I'm not sure whether it's set in stone, yet.

What I don't want to say is… I don't believe there is an exit strategy. Not without ruining everything we did this for, or doing something worse. I don't Know that either, but I don't think there is any good way to escape alive. I never have thought that.

I did — mention this, before we committed to the plan, but the others preferred to hope, and I wasn't about to push. I wouldn't have pushed even if I didn't think this could reverse the Change, and now I'm not going to push either.

Because there is room for comfort here — not a lot of peace, but comfort and happiness, hope, rest, joy. Tea, even — the sophiornids have coffeeshops, you can buy it there. It's probably terrible, but it exists.

This world runs on video game logic, not nightmare logic. _Better_ exists.

I don't think I'm going to have to hurt anyone, here.

I hope the others— I'm not going to argue against playing the Game, or anything Martin or Georgie want to try, to get out of here, as long as I don't think it will send the Entities back to Earth. I _want_ to play the Game, to get better control over all this, and if there's even a _chance_ it will give me the ability to fix everyone's memories of Sasha—

The point is, I don't mind looking for an exit strategy. I just hope the others can feel, at some point, that this is already a win.

Even if there's no way out, we're trading a world of near-infinite torture for an indeterminate period of — of _living_ , very weird living but still living, which could last for years if we're careful. And afterwards… a simple, straightforward death, knowing that Earth is free of the Entities.

It's a good deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> Mostly. Like it says in the end notes, I am not opposed to exploring some of the potential scenarios the come after this in more detail. Make requests if you have 'em, here or at my tumblr. Any additions will eventually show up in the 'SFear & Supplementals' series.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, my current plan is to go through all the planets as I have been, and have a summing-up. Obviously this leaves a lot of stuff untold. I'm probably not going to write what happens next in any kind of complete or linear way, but I may write more -- dialogue snippets, POV snippets, bullet points. I will park any such snippets in the series I am attempting to create, 'SFear and Supplementals'.
> 
> If you have any particular things you are interested in, drop 'em in a comment on chapter 16 (when it's up) or stop by [my tumblr](https://ceescedasticity.tumblr.com/). I don't make any promises and I definitely will not be saying much if anything about how everything turns out in the end, but I am interested in hearing what people are interested in!


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